An inner diameter saw consists of a hole cut in a thin, round disk made of unalloyed steel. The edge of this hole is coated with diamonds to form the blade. The slicing disk is fitted vertically on an air-supported hollow spindle and fixed in place in the unit by a clamping ring.
Before the workpiece - such as a monocrystalline silicon ingot - is sliced, it is fed deep trough the holes in the slicing disk on a so-called index slide. The workpiece is then raised into the spinning disk, slicing it.
One outstanding feature of this slicing technology is that the slicing disk can be adjusted automatically by air nozzles during the slicing process. This produces minimal kerf loss yet very high precision and surface quality. As a result, slicing costs are lower compared to other slicing procedures and technologies.
